Mitt Romney on Education

Former Republican Governor (MA); presidential nominee-apparent

Teachers unions need to go behind parents & kids

OBAMA: Here's what my plan does: Making sure that we've got the best education system in the world, including retraining our workers for the jobs of tomorrow; doing everything we can to control our own energy.

ROMNEY: We're going to have to have
training programs that work for our workers & schools that finally put the parents and the teachers and the kids first, and the teachers union's going to have to go behind.

OBAMA: Let's take an example that we know is going to make a difference in the
21st century, and that's our education policy. Under my leadership, what we've done is reformed education, working with governors, 46 states. And what I now want to do is to hire more teachers, especially in math and science, because we know that we've
fallen behind when it comes to math and science. And those teachers can make a difference. Governor Romney was asked by teachers whether or not this would help the economy grow, he said, "this isn't going to help the economy grow."

Free college for the top quarter of high school graduates

When I was governor of Massachusetts, to get a high school degree, you had to pass an exam. If you graduated in the top quarter of your high school class, we gave you a John and
Abigail Adams scholarship, four years tuition free in the college of your choice in Massachusetts, it's a public institution.

Source: Second Obama-Romney 2012 Presidential debate
, Oct 16, 2012

Let IDEA and Title I funds follow disabled child

Q: Does the federal government have a responsibility to improve the quality of public education in America?

ROMNEY:
Well, the primary responsibility for education is, of course, at the state and local level. But the federal government also can play a very important role. I agree with [the principles of] Race to the Top, not all of them, but some of them I agree with.
My own view is, I've added to that. I want the kids that are getting federal dollars from IDEA or Title I--these are disabled kids or lower-income kids--I want them to be able to go to the school of their choice.
So all federal funds, instead of going to the state or to the school district, I'd have go, if you will, follow the child and let the parent and the child decide where to send their student.

No cuts to college funding

Q: Do you think you have a difference with your views and those of Governor Romney on education?

OBAMA: This is an example of where our priorities make a difference. I genuinely believe Governor Romney cares about education, but when he tells a
student that, "you should borrow money from your parents to go to college," that indicates the degree to which there may not be as much of a focus on the fact that folks just don't have that option.

ROMNEY: Mr. President, you're entitled as the
president to your own airplane, but not to your own facts. I'm not going to cut education funding. I don't have any plan to cut education funding and grants that go to people going to college. I don't want to cut our commitment to education. I wanted to
make it more effective and efficient. And I don't just talk about it. Massachusetts schools are ranked #1 in the nation. This is not because I didn't have commitment to education. It's because I care about education for all of our kids.

Put kids & teachers first; teachers' unions go behind

We have to make sure that our people have the skills to succeed. I want to get our training programs to do that, and I want to make sure our kids in school get the kind of skills they need for the jobs of tomorrow.
Our schools are not performing at the level they should. I want to put the kids and the teachers first. I think the teachers' union has to go behind. We've got to put our kids first.

Free tuition at MA college for top 1/4 of high school grads

Pell Grants are a federal program of providing granted money to young people going to college, particularly those who can't afford college on their own. I'm proud of the fact that when
I was governor of my state, we didn't have the resources to do something as expansive as a Pell Grant, but I was able to put in something known as the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship Program.

Under that program, those who graduated from high school and passed our graduation exam, those who passed it in the top quarter of their high school got a four-year tuition free ride to the
Massachusetts institutions of higher learning that are public. So I care. I care about your education and helping people of modest means get a good education and we'll continue a Pell Grant program.

Cap Pell Grants to increase only at rate of inflation

Q: 40% of Hispanics that go to college have Pell Grants. Paul Ryan suggested reduction of that program and the amount of students that qualify to get the benefits. Do you agree?

A: We're going to continue a Pell Grant program. [Paul Ryan's]
Republican budget called for a Pell Grants being capped out at their current high level. My inclination would be to have them go with the rate of inflation.
I think it's important in higher education that we get serious about the fact that the inflation of tuition has been much faster than inflation generally.
And my view is we have to hold down the rate of tuition increases and fee increases in higher education. We've got to find a way to keep those costs down and we'll be able to keep up with costs by having Pell Grants grow at the rate of inflation.

Don't overwhelm college students with loan debt

Q: What specific steps will you take to ease the debt burden of a million young people from high college tuition?

A: The best thing I can do for young people graduating is make sure that when you get out, you have a job.
That's a key thing. Because right now, half the kids in this country that are graduating from college, half couldn't find a job or a job consistent with their college degree. We've always, as a nation, snapped up young people coming out of college.
But that's changed in these last few years. And so the best thing I can do is not to [say], "Hey, I'll loan you more money."
I don't want to overwhelm you with debts. I want you to make sure you can pay back the debts you've already got and that will happen with good jobs.

Higher spending rarely correlates with better results

Q: What role should the federal government play to better prepare students of all ages for the science and technology-driven global economy?

A: The education challenges America faces are not new. Since "A Nation at Risk" was published almost thirty
years ago, our country has understood the urgent need for reform. Recent test results showing US students lagging behind their international peers are unacceptable in their own right, and a sobering warning of a potential decline threatening our
nation's future. Politicians have attempted to solve these problems with more spending. But while America's spending per student is among the highest in the world, our results lag far behind. We spend nearly two-and-a-half times as much per pupil today,
in real terms, as in 1970, but high school achievement and graduation rates have stagnated. Higher spending rarely correlates with better results. Even the liberal Center for American Progress acknowledged that in a recent report.

Every parent should have a choice of schools

We will give our fellow citizens the skills they need for the jobs of today and the careers of tomorrow.
When it comes to the school your child will attend, every parent should have a choice, and every child should have a chance.

Source: 2012 Republican National Convention speech
, Aug 30, 2012

Abigail Adams scholarships: H.S. Top 25% get college tuition

At every turn in his life, this man I met at a high school dance, has helped lift up others. He did it with the Olympics, when many wanted to give up.

He did it in Massachusetts, where he guided a state from economic crisis to unemployment of just
4.7%.

Under Mitt, Massachusetts's schools were the best in the nation. The best. He started the John and Abigail Adams scholarships, which give the top 25% of high school graduates a four-year tuition-free scholarship.

Gov. Perry's education policy stances compared to Romney's

Do Perry and Romney agree on school prayer? (No, only Perry is for it). Do they both want to abolish the Department of Education (No; Romney no longer wants that, but Perry does).
We cite details from Romney's books and speeches, and Perry's, so you can compare them, side-by-side, on issues like these:

Smaller classroom size only matters to teachers' unions

Q: What as president would you seriously do about a massive overreach of big government into the classroom?

ROMNEY: Let me tell you what I think I would do. One, education has to be held at the local and state level, not at the federal level.
We need get the federal government out of education. And secondly, all the talk about we need smaller classroom size, look that's promoted by the teachers unions to hire more teachers.
We looked at what drives good education in our state, what we found is the best thing for education is great teachers, hire the very best and brightest to be teachers, pay them properly, make sure that you have school choice, test your kids
to see if they are meeting the standards that need to be met, and make sure that you put the parents in charge. And as president I will stand up to the National Teachers Unions.

We should insist that teachers get evaluated

PERRY: There is one person on this stage that is for Obama's Race to the Top and that is Governor Romney. He said so just this last week. And I think that is an important difference between the rest of the people on this stage and one person that wants
to run for the presidency. Being in favor of the Obama Race to the Top and that is not conservative.

ROMNEY: I'm not sure exactly what he's saying. I don't support any particular program that he's describing. I think the Secretary of Education
Arne Duncan is doing a good thing by saying, "You know what? We should insist that teachers get evaluated and that schools have the opportunity to see which teachers exceeding and which ones are failing and that teachers that are not successful are
removed from the classroom." Those ideas by Secretary Duncan, that is a lot better than what the president did which is cutting off school choice in the Washington, D.C. schools. So let's give us a full chance to talk about it.

China & India graduate more science & engineering PhDs

Increasing productivity begins with innovation and innovation begins with good ideas. More often than not, good ideas come from educated minds. America's post-WWII commitment to public higher education directly contributed to the burst of productivity
that rocketed our economy beyond every other. But other nations have made as great or greater a commitment to higher education than we have, particularly in engineering, computer science, and information. 15 years ago, China and India awarded about half
as many master's degrees in these fields as did the US. Today, they graduate more than two times the number of students in these fields as we do.

While our annual number of degrees has hovered around 7,000 to 8,000, China's has risen from 1,784 to
12,130--50% greater than ours. This is a stunning reversal of global preeminence in the priority attached to the highest level of educational attainment. Not surprisingly, China, Japan, and Taiwan claim a growing share of the world's patents.

Failure to educate minorities is a civil rights issue

The "achievement gap" has been lamented for decades but distressingly little has been done to combat it. About half of African American and Hispanic American students drop out before receiving a high-school degree. The result is that we are virtually
assuring the creation of permanent underclass. It is an inexplicable human tragedy when millions of American children barely attain a third-world education in a nation that offers all its citizens access to free public schooling.
Our current failure to educate our minority populations is the foremost civil-rights issue of our generation.

The minority proportion of the US population is projected to rise from 26% today to 34% by 2030, and if the achievement gap and dropout rate
among minorities continues, the average educational level of the nation's entire workforce will continue to decline dramatically.

There is no greater indictment of American government than the sorry state of American education. It is an epic failure.

2003: Bold reforms: required H.S. graduation test

In 1993, the Supreme Judicial Court ordered the state to raise education funding levels in low-income school districts to a minimum acceptable level. Funding in low-income districts would be dramatically increased, but all students would be regularly
tested in math and English. And the agreement provided that in 2003--my first year as governor--students would have to pass a test in order to graduate from high school. And finally, the state opened the door to the creation of charter schools.

Objections to the graduation requirement became increasingly intense as the first school year of my administration was drawing to a close. 92% of our seniors had passed the test, and those who had not would be entitled to summer school and another try.
The parents of the 8% of students who failed to pass the test were vocal & angry. Despite the program's apparent early success, the Massachusetts teachers' union launched a $600,000 ad campaign, calling the graduation requirement "flawed and unfair."

Vetoed abandoning three new Massachusetts charter schools

The provision for new charter schools came under attack during my term. The legislature passed a bill that put a moratorium on any new charter schools--a law went into effect immediately. Yet because the bill was enacted at the beginning of summer,
it would force the abandonment of three new charter schools only recently constructed and scheduled to open in the fall. The teachers for these schools had already been hired.
The students had applied, been accepted, and had notified their regular public schools of their decision to attend the new charter schools. It was an egregious exercise in special-interest-driven legislation, and evidence of how fervently the
teachers' unions oppose school choice. I vetoed the bill. And while Republicans made up only 15 percent of the legislature, enough Democrats joined with me to uphold my veto, and the new schools opened as planned.

Teachers' union has deadening impact on student achievement

Teachers' unions do their very best to secure insulations from performance for their members, and the results are lack of accountability, rising pay as a simple function of years on the job, and near-absolute job security. These have a deadening impact
on student achievement. I don't blame teachers' unions for asking such gold-plated benefits; the unions'' job is to work for their members. I blame administrators, school boards, and parents for saying yes, even when schools are manifestly failing their
students.

It is not the unions' job to fight for our children. That job is our job, and it's the task of the people we elect to represent us. Our elected representatives' role is to sit across the table from the unions and bargain in good faith in
the interest of children and parents. But the teachers' unions long ago discovered that they could wield influence--and, in some cases, overwhelming influence--over the selection of our representatives on school boards and in state legislatures.

School choice over fat-cat CEOs of teachers' unions

Our conservative agenda strengthens our family in part by, by putting our schools on track to be the best in the world again, because great schools start with great teachers. We'll insist on hiring teachers from the top third college graduates and we'll
give better teachers better pay. School accountability, school choice, cyber schools will be priorities and we'll put parents and teachers back in charge of education, not fat-cat CEOs of the teachers' unions.

FactCheck: US scores at 50% internationally, not 10%-25%

Romney exaggerated the extent to which the US lags behind other industrial nations in education. He said, “Our kids score in the bottom 10% or 25% in exams around the world among major industrial nations.” That’s not so. Actually, the US ranked closer
to the 50th percentile than the bottom quarter, according to the most recent rankings by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), an internationally standardized study administered to15-year-old schoolchildren in 57 countries.

Students in several nations were tested in 2006. In science, the US ranked 29th out of 57 (49th %ile). And in math, the US ranked 35th out of 57 (39th %ile). In 2003 US students again landed near the middle, scoring 15th out of 29 (48th %ile).

A
Romney campaign aide said the candidate was referring to a much earlier study in which the US finished 19th out of 21 nations in math and 16th out of 21 nations in science. But that study, the Third International Math & Science Study (TIMSS) is from 1998

FactCheck: MA 1st in test scores, but was 1st before Romney

Governors Huckabee & Romney both claimed to have the most impressive record on education. Romney claimed, “The kids in our state scored number one in all four measures on the national exams, and they did that because of Republican principles.”

It’s tru
that Massachusetts school children scored first in the nation in the most recent NAEP tests, scoring a clean sweep among both 4th-graders and 8th-graders in math & reading. But MA also had ranked at or near the top before Romney took office, so he’s
straining the facts to attribute the success entirely to “Republican principles” and his leadership.

Arkansas consistently scored below the national average before Huckabee came along, and on most tests it still does. But on all four NAEP tests,
AR’s scores moved closer to the average during Huckabee’s time in office. Coming from below average to not-so-much-below average is significant. Whether that constitutes the “most impressive” record among GOP candidates, we’ll leave others to judge.

Education is not just the teachers’ union

Education is not just the teachers’ union. They’ve been the biggest obstacle to change in education and choice. It’s teachers, parents, the state, the federal government. It’s all levels coming together and working together for the benefit of our kids.
We face right now an education challenge that’s really unusual. We’re behind. America’s behind in education. Our kids score in the bottom 10 or 25 percent in exams around the world among major industrial nations.

Source: 2007 Des Moines Register Republican Debate
, Dec 12, 2007

Bush was right on No Child Left Behind

Bush was right to fight for No Child Left Behind, because we allow states now to test our kids and see how well they’re doing, particularly in math and English. We’ve made the same effort in our state, actually before No Child Left Behind was passed. We
test our kids; we have high standards. We teach them in English, English immersion. We also put in place incentives for kids to do well. For those that take the graduation exam, which you have to take to get out of high school, we say that you’re going
to get, if you score in the top 25 percent on the test, a four-year tuition-free scholarship to a Massachusetts institution of higher learning. The federal government insists on those tests and those standards. We have to have higher pay for better
teachers. And people who are not good teachers ought to find a different career. We need more parental involvement. School choice, better pay for better teachers, high standards, scholarships for the best kids, English immersion: These principles work.

Identify failing schools; push choice & English immersion

Q: How can we improve public education in this country?

A: Well, we’ve got a pretty good model. If you look at my state, even before I got there, other governors and legislatures worked real hard to improve education. And they did a number of things
that made a big difference. One is, they started testing our kids to see who was succeeding, making sure that failing schools were identified and then turning them around. They fought for school choice. When I became governor,
I had to protect school choice because the legislature tried to stop it. And then we also fought for English immersion. We wanted our kids coming to school to learn English from the very beginning. We care about the quality of education.
I want to pay better teachers more money. Teachers are underpaid, but I want to evaluate our teachers and see which ones are the best and which ones are not.

Principles: choice; parental involvement; merit scholarships

[In Massachusetts] we did something that was really extraordinary. We said to every kid that does well on these exams that we put in place before you can graduate from high school, we’re going to give you a John and Abigail
Adams scholarship, four years tuition-free to our state university or state colleges for all the kids that graduate in the top quarter of their class.

And let me tell how our kids are doing. Every two years, we test the kids across the country, the
NAPE exam. Massachusetts kids came out number one in English in fourth and eighth grade, number one in math. In all four tests, our kids came out number one in the nation.
These principles of choice, parental involvement, encouraging high standards, scholarships for our best kids -- these turn our schools into the kind of magnets that they can be for the entire nation.

Supports English immersion & abstinence education

In the toughest of blue states I’ve had to stand up for life, and I have. I’ve had to stand up for traditional marriage, and I have. I stood to make sure that we could have English immersion in our schools, because I think kids should be taught in
English. I fought for the death penalty. I fought for abstinence education. I have the kind of leadership that will allow America to build upon the same kind of reputation and heritage that we got from our conservative founders in this party.

Source: 2007 Republican Debate in South Carolina
, May 15, 2007

Changed from closing Education Dept. to supporting NCLB

Q: You have been criticized for changing your position on some issues. You say that it’s a part of learning from experience. Can you point to an area in which your learning from experience led you to change to a position that is less popular with the
Republican base?

A: Sure, quite a few, actually. One is No Child Left Behind. I’ve taken a position where, once upon a time, I said I wanted to eliminate the Department of Education. That was my position when I ran for Senate in 1994.
That’s very popular with the base. As I’ve been a governor and seen the impact that the federal government can have holding down the interest of the teachers’ unions and instead putting the interests of the kids and the parents and the teachers first,
I see that the Department of Education can actually make a difference. So I supported No Child Left Behind. I still do. I know there are a lot in my party that don’t like it, but I like testing in our schools. I think it allows us to get better schools

God created universe, but evolution created human body

Mitt Romney expanded on his belief in evolution. Romney was not among those Republican candidates who raised their hands last week when asked at the Republican presidential debate if they did not believe in evolution.

"I believe that God designed
the universe and created the universe," Romney said this week. "And I believe evolution is most likely the process he used to create the human body."

He was asked: Is that intelligent design? "I'm not exactly sure what is meant by intelligent design,"
he said. "But I believe God is intelligent and I believe he designed the creation. And I believe he used the process of evolution to create the human body."

While MA governor, Romney opposed the teaching of intelligent design in science classes. "In
my opinion, the science class is where to teach evolution. If we're going to talk about more philosophical matters, like why it was created, and was there an intelligent designer behind it, that's for the religion class or philosophy class."

Source: Michael Luo, NY Times "The Caucus"
, May 11, 2007

Reform underperforming schools or replace with charters

For K-12, the Romney/Healey plan would focus resources on under-performing schools by providing for an immediate third party audit of school management, curriculum and faculty;
giving principals emergency powers to replace up to 10 percent of staff; accelerating charter school authorization in the district and allowing for intensive remedial attention for under-performing teachers.

Supported abolishing the federal Department of Education

Favored keeping control of educational reform at the lowest level, closest to parents, teachers, and the community

Pledged to vote to establish a means-tested school voucher program to allow students to attend the public or private school of their choice.

Source: Boston Globe review of 1994 canpaign issues
, Mar 21, 2002

Schools can teach family values, but not religion or prayer

Romney said he would support federal grants to schools to fund programs stressing the importance of economics and family values. He said that local school districts should have complete control over the programs, but that they could not endorse specific
religious beliefs or prayer in schools. -- Among the possible programs could be teaching children to learn the importance of getting married before having children.

Source: Joe Battenfeld in Boston Herald
, Aug 1, 1994

Supported means-tested vouchers for public & private schools

Pledged to vote to establish a means-tested school voucher program to allow students to attend the public or private school of their choice.

Supported abolishing the federal Department of Education

Favored keeping control of educational reform at the lowest level, closest to parents, teachers, and the community

Source: Boston Globe review of 1994 canpaign issues
, Mar 21, 2002

Mitt Romney on Massachusetts

MA schools were #1 in the nation while I was governor

OBAMA: I want to hire more teachers. Gov. Romney, you said, "this isn't going to help the economy grow." When you were asked about reduced class sizes, you said class sizes don't make a difference. But it does make a difference.

ROMNEY: I'm so proud of the state that I had the chance to be governor of. We have, every two years, tests that look at how well our kids are doing. While I was governor, I was proud that our fourth graders came out #1 of all 50 states in English and
then also in math, and our eighth graders #1 in English and also in math--first time one state had been #1 in all four measures. How did we do that? Well, Republicans and Democrats came together on a bipartisan basis to put in place education principles
that focused on having great teachers in the classroom.

OBAMA: But that was 10 years before you took office. And then you cut education spending when you came into office.